The Wembley Lions were an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team.

History

The team were founded in 1934 but showed a continuity with the London Lions team which had played at various venues since 1924. The Wembley team were based at the newly built Empire Pool in

Wembley Park Wembley Park is a district of the London Borough of Brent, England. It is roughly centred on Bridge Road, a mile northeast of Wembley town centre and northwest from Charing Cross. The name Wembley Park refers to the area that, at its broade ...

, which they shared with the

Wembley Monarchs The Wembley Monarchs were an ice hockey team in the United Kingdom. They were founded in 1929 as the Grosvenor House Canadians, transferred to Wembley Canadians for the 1934–35 season and became the Monarchs in 1936. The team played in the Eng ...

until 1950. The team entered the

English National League The English National League was an early ice hockey league in England. It was founded in 1935 by most of the teams who had previously competed in the English League. It was suspended during the Second World War World War II or t ...

, winning it in 1935-36 and 1936–37. After a break during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, they returned and again topped the league in 1951–52. In 1954, Lions joined the new British National League, which they won this championship in 1956/7. The League collapsed in 1960, and faced with the prospect of no regular league matches, the team folded. Inspired by the success of Brighton Tigers, who had continued to play without a league, Lions reformed in 1963 to play friendly matches and continued until 1968.

1937 international playoffs

The

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; french: Association canadienne de hockey amateur) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction include ...

(CAHA) arranged an international tournament aimed to determined a world's amateur champion, hosted at

Maple Leaf Gardens Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games, though it has sinc ...

in Toronto, and invited the champions of the

Allan Cup The Allan Cup is the trophy awarded annually to the national senior amateur men's ice hockey champions of Canada. It was donated by Sir Montagu Allan of Ravenscrag, Montreal, and has been competed for since 1909. The current champions are the ...

and the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

, the Eastern Amateur Hockey League and the English National League. The world's amateur title was contested by the Wembley Lions, the

Hershey Bears The Hershey Bears are a professional ice hockey team based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, a town located 14 miles east of the state capital of Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the c ...

, the Sudbury Tigers, and the

Winnipeg Monarchs Winnipeg Monarchs is a name used by several Canadian ice hockey teams in Winnipeg, Manitoba and may refer to: *Winnipeg Monarchs (senior), a defunct ice hockey team, 1935 World Ice Hockey Champions *Winnipeg Monarchs (MJHL) The Winnipeg Monarch ...

. The schedule was a six-game double

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

from April 17 to 24, followed by a best-of-three game final series among the top two teams. CAHA representative

W. A. Hewitt William Abraham Hewitt (May 15, 1875September 8, 1966) was a Canadian sports executive and journalist, also widely known as Billy Hewitt. He was secretary of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1903 to 1966, and sports editor of the ''To ...

announced the shortening of the series due to poor attendance. The game between Hershey and Winnipeg was cancelled as both teams went home early, and a final best-of-three series between Sudbury and Wembley. Sudbury and Wembley completed the best-of-three series each with a win, loss and tie. Since Wembley had travel plans to return to Europe, the series was decided by sudden death overtime period played immediately after the third game finished. Sudbury then won the series on a goal by George Hastie in the fifteenth minute of play.

Notable players

Notable players include: *

Derek Holmes Derek Holmes (born 18 October 1978) is a Scottish former professional association football, footballer, who played for Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian, Cowdenbeath F.C., Cowdenbeath, Raith Rovers F.C., Raith Rovers, Ross County F. ...

, Canadian and

IIHF Hall of Fame The IIHF Hall of Fame is a hall of fame operated by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). It was founded in 1997, and has resided at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto since 1998. Prior to 1997, the IIHF housed exhibits at the Interna ...

inductee *

Ken Johannson Kenneth Johannson (October 6, 1930November 27, 2018) was a Canadian-born American ice hockey player, coach and executive. A native of Edmonton, he attended the University of North Dakota on a football scholarship, then played for the Fighting ...

, Canadian-born American ice hockey player, coach and general manager of the United States national men's ice hockey team *

James Robertson Justice James Robertson Justice (15 June 1907 – 2 July 1975) was a British actor. He is best remembered for portraying pompous authority figures in comedies including each of the seven films in the ''Doctor'' series. He also co-starred with Grego ...

(British actor)

Sources

A to Z Encyclopaedia of Ice Hockey
*Martin C. Harris, ''Homes of British Ice Hockey''

References

Defunct ice hockey teams in the United Kingdom Ice hockey clubs established in 1934 Sports clubs disestablished in 1968 Ice hockey teams in London Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena 1934 establishments in England 1968 disestablishments in England {{Europe-icehockey-team-stub